


How to Thaw a Frozen Heart

by SunsetOfDoom



Category: Brave (2012), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 12:36:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5417342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunsetOfDoom/pseuds/SunsetOfDoom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A freak blizzard reaches Berk in midsummer, and Hiccup begins to suspect that a certain ice spirit is in trouble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Thaw a Frozen Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I wrote as a Secret Santa present, two years ago when Frozen had just come out. To date, it's the longest piece of writing I've ever finished.

A cold wind blew in from the North.

Not an uncommon occurrence in Berk, the island that even the Frost Giants considered inhospitable. But early summer- the time of dragon-training and harvesting the few edible plants that would grow in their rocky soil- was a respite from the usual varied blizzards and hailstorms. With a decent chance of sunshine, the squirrels and birds made excellent target practice for Hooligans with slingshots, and frequent rain made splashing in mud puddles an inevitability. The fishing ships stayed close to shore and the children ran wild until someone- usually Ruffnut, as Gobber got older- corralled them into the Academy.

But the ice that had so recently abated seemed to be making its way back south again, at least three months too early, and the Hooligan Tribe banged shut the windows and built up the fires, nervous of incurring the wrath of the gods.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, Hope and Heir to the tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, had gotten himself stuck on a barren rock-patch about three miles from Berk’s southwestern shore, being assaulted by the biting wind.

He pulled on his tunic and tried to shift closer to Toothless- behind him- and the fire- in the middle of the tiny island on which they had chosen to camp- at the same time. He managed neither, and grumbled quietly as he scooted himself backwards to curl up by his very warm dragon.  
Shivering, he adjusted the straps on the saddle, pulling them looser, and Toothless sighed. He scratched his dragon along his neck, the way he liked.

“This was gonna just be a scouting trip, but what do you say we fly on south to see Merida?” Hiccup said, shivering a little. “It’s too cold up here.”

Toothless warbled at him, sniffing a little. He liked Merida fine, but the Scots were a bit too far south for even a Night Fury to want to fly over open water. He did, however, greatly enjoy terrorizing Angus.  
Hiccup wrapped his vest tight around himself, burying his face in the warm fur that smelled of Toothless and soot. Merida was sweet, striking a nice balance between Astrid’s distance and Camicazi’s… forwardness. She managed to be fun to be around, while also being attractive, strong, and not scary about either. Granted, her skill with a bow was at times uncannily frightening. He liked her, and Rapunzel, the young princess from the South, who had been there on a diplomatic endeavor the last time he’d visited the DunBroch castle.

And Jack had flown up as well, the tempestuous ice spirit that he’d met just before last Snoggletog, the one who brought the first snowstorms in the fall and encouraged small children to get into mischief in the cold. Hiccup could see him, but some others could or couldn’t, depending; the younger they were, the more likely it was. Astrid couldn’t, but the twins could, and Fishlegs and Snotlout had each glimpsed or stared straight through him at different times  
Snotlout in particular had gotten hit with many more snowballs than usual that winter.

They’d spent most of that season together, Jack running off with the wind and snow but always coming back. Jack liked to sit in the forge while Hiccup worked, making spindly ice sculptures that melted slowly as the heat spread out from the fires; Hiccup seemed to be the only person in the world that Jack could stay still for.

His breathing slowed, and Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third- Hope and Heir to the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans- fell asleep to the memory of his friend perched on the windowsill of the smithy, wide blue eyes reflecting the firelight.

.

He sent a Terror back to the village with a note, and, when the sun was just barely over the horizon, set off to the south. As much as Toothless would gripe and sulk at the end of the journey, unwilling to resume good relations with Hiccup until he’d been presented with good fish and an apology, starting out, the trip made a good excuse to stretch his wings. They got into a race with some wild Scauldrons, ducking through their spray and weaving unsteadily between the deeper-blue juveniles at the rear of the pack.

The chill in the wind followed them south, still far too cold for even early summer; the dragons seemed to be reacting to the weather, leaving northern waters for more temperate areas down south. They flew above the Scauldron pack for probably a day and a half, and when they touched down on a rocky half-island just large enough to sleep on, the two youngest water dragons circled it curiously.

Hiccup, who knew better than to antagonize any wild dragon- especially a little one- went about his business, building a fire and unpacking provisions as Toothless snapped and chittered at the Tidal hatchlings. The sun set to his right as he pulled his sketchbook from the bottom of the bag, and he found the least wet rock he could to perch on.

He started out on Rapunzel’s hair- short and choppy, fun to draw- and moved down to her big eyes, snub nose, sweet smile, ending at her neck to start on Merida. Her hair was much less fun- he outlined a few curls around her face and left the rest to the imagination- and he worked inwards, detailing the roundness of her face and curve to her cheeks, dotting freckles here and there. Her teeth, straight but chipped, always showed when she smiled.

Jack’s hair, sweeping and messy, dusted over his forehead; he remembered how the pale boy would always brush it back, only to have it fall in his eyes again and again. Big, sharp eyes, dark lashes, thick eyebrows-

Hiccup didn’t look up, but he did set down his pencil as he realized he was being watched. Without moving his head, he cast his gaze to the water; one of the Scauldrons was staring at him, dark blue scales shining wetly in the orange light. Its parents, well over sixty feet long, were too large to get so close to the tiny island, but that didn’t mean they weren’t watching, making sure the Viking hatchling wouldn’t hurt their baby.

“Hello,” he called, his tone as calm as the sky, “it’s all right, you can come closer if you want. I don’t mind, I won’t hurt you.”

The sea-dragon made a burbling, spluttering noise, not unlike water starting to boil. Its head bobbed up and down in the corners of his vision, and he moved slowly, reaching his right hand out towards it without looking up.

He kept his palm facing upwards and let the Scauldron sniff at him, its head, twice his size, only a few feet away. He turned his head as smoothly as he could, keeping his gaze averted as much as possible; Vikings tended to stare down their enemies, sizing them up before a fight. Dragons knew, and took a staring Viking as a threat.  
From the shape of the head, the Scauldron was female; and from the size of the body- he could see the tail thrashing out of the water far behind her- less than a year old. There was strange mottling on her back, too, and it looked familiar.

Warm air whuffled over his palm, and the water splashed as she rose up, moving closer to rest her belly on the rocky shore. The noise she made this time reminded Hiccup of bubbles rising up from underwater, a soft cooing and gurgling. She raised her wings cautiously, and the light caught her back, showing the marks in glaring detail.

Hail damage. That’s what it was. Like the time Stormfly had gotten caught flying in an ice storm- the scales cracked from cold and pressure, showing the white inner tissue. Horribly painful for the dragon, especially when it left them vulnerable to temperature damage- or salt water…

“Poor thing. You’ve been swimming all this time? That must hurt…” She whined, nudging the base of her horn against his curled fingers.

He couldn’t help but wonder what could do that kind of harm to a water dragon. Scauldrons spent normal summers up north by the glaciers, but nothing short of an avalanche could hit a fast-moving dragon with that kind of pressure. Maybe a hailstorm, or a blizzard? Whatever it was, it had been too fast for her to move out of the way, cold enough to make her scales brittle, heavy enough to break them.  
All of a sudden, she cried out, fanning her wings to propel herself away from shore. Hiccup jumped, ready to run or fight, and then realized- Toothless. She was frightened by the scary Night Fury, the dragon equivalent of the monster that hid under Viking children’s beds. He was jumping his way between the rocks, down to the water’s edge. He warbled to the hatchling, floating warily in open water, and retched up several fish on the bare rock before sitting back on his haunches.

Hiccup gathered his book and pencil, hopping up the rocks. Toothless moved back, torn between following his rider or watching over his charge as she swam closer to eat.

“C’mon, Toothless.”

He trotted back up to the makeshift campsite where their things were drying in the fading sunlight, and began packing up again. Seeing Merida had been a passing fancy, but it may have been the right choice to pay a visit to the only contact he shared with a certain spirit of winter.

“What could do hail damage to a Scauldron?”

Jack Frost could.

.

Castle DunBroch was covered in snow.

They rode atop the cold northern wind, passing over icy shoals and confused trees, their new green leaves blanketed in thin, dusty snow, and the thick stone castle looked cold and abandoned. The usual summer bustle had all gone inside.

Hiccup leaned his whole weight to the right to turn them in a tight circle, looking out over the landscape; all of it was barren and halfway frozen. The fields were tended only by the crows, and even some livestock barns had been forsaken in favor of the castle’s warmer accommodations. Toothless growled.

“Doesn’t seem right to me either, bud. We’re gonna find out what this is and make it stop, alright?”

An arrow shot past his ear. Hiccup cursed, ducking low to scan the woods for attackers; at first glance, there was no one, but a force could easily be camouflaged in the trees along the cliff side-  
Scratch that. He spotted a muscular Clydesdale on the forest path, with a shock of red hair where the rider should have been, and knew immediately who his assailant was.

“Hey, Toothless, let’s show them how good your aim is, huh?”

Toothless trilled back happily, folding his wings back for a swift dive. Hiccup bent low over the saddle, angling his leg to keep them stable yet ready to turn. He fisted his hands into the well-worn grooves in the leather. At this point he could do nothing but hold on and listen to the high whine that meant Toothless would _fire_ -

A single tree burst into flames and toppled not a hundred feet from Merida and Angus, close enough to scare but far enough to prepare a jump. Angus sailed over the charred trunk with unbelievable grace for two thousand pounds of clunky Clydesdale.

“Toothless, please don’t start a forest fire.” Hiccup groaned. The dragon gave a short, barking laugh, and Hiccup joined in. “That was awesome, buddy, but we’re done showing off. Let’s go say hello, huh?” 

They turned together, and Toothless found a tall pine to perch atop before jumping to the ground.

“And would you try not to traumatized the horse?”

.

Hiccup dismounted on the cliff’s edge, leaving enough trees between them and the path that Angus could feel securely out of Toothless’ reach (as long as Hiccup kept an eye on his mischievous apex predator, at least).

Merida was dressed in dark blue, a thick cloak fastened around her shoulders, and her cheeks were bright pink from the cold. She tromped her way off the path with her ever-present bluster, an unusually stern expression on her face, and came close for a bone-crushing hug.

Her bright red hair became all he could see, his nose pressed tight next to her ear- and last summer he’d been at just the right height to rest his chin on her shoulder. So he _was_ getting taller.

“Are you alright? Is yer village safe?” Merida gasped, loosening her hold on him the slightest bit so he could breathe enough to answer.

“Ye-” He paused. Berk had been fine, if nervous, the day he’d left. But if it was snowing this far south, what was happening to his island? “I’m okay, not sure about Berk. Not as safe as I’d like it to be, probably, but we’re Vikings- we know how to weather a storm.” Enough of the harvest had already been taken in that no one would be starving, and besides the farms there were always the fishing boats. The main concern would be keeping everyone calm, which he’d never been very good at anyways.

Merida pulled away, gnawing her lip like she always did when worried. “It hit yesterday, mum and dad are losin’ it. Everyone’s scared- people are talkin’ witchcraft.” She stared out at the sky, grey clouds covering every hint of sunlight.

“But that’s not what it is.” Hiccup said. “Is it? You don’t think so either.”

Merida frowned, not turning away from the cliffside. 

“It’s Jack. I know it is.”

“He wouldn’t.”

“He could, though. We’ve both seen what he can do when he puts his mind to it.” As if in response, the temperature of the wind dropped rapidly, picking up speed and tugging at Merida’s clothes.

Toothless, not swayed by their grim tones, gamboled over and nudged against Merida’s hip, demanding to be acknowledged and scratched. She laughed, acquiescing to his nonverbal request. “Aye, hello to you too.” She reached around to the satchel that rested on her hip, reaching to the bottom to grasp a squirrel with an arrow wound neatly placed in the eye socket. Toothless accepted her gift with delight, but not before carefully biting it in half, taking the front end for himself and leaving the hindquarters in her outstretched hand.

Merida grimaced. “No, that’s alright. You take it.” She swung the squirrel into the air, tossing it up for Toothless to catch- which he did, with much aplomb, and he whistled happily as he licked her hand- and laughed at her disgusted reaction to dragon saliva dripping down her palm.

She shook her hand dry, and glared over at Hiccup, who was having a difficult time keeping his lips from twitching.

“If we stay out for too much longer we’re gonna turn blue, and me mum’s expecting me back.” Merida looked a little sheepish, and Hiccup raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, alright, not so much expectin’, I might’ve snuck out. So, let’s get back before she notices, aye?”

 

She ran back through the trees to hop up on Angus.

“Bet I can be up in my room before you’re announced, Viking boy!”

“You’re on!” Hiccup called back, fitting his prosthetic into the saddle’s mechanisms just as Toothless dove off the side of the cliff.

.

Queen Elinor was as happy to see him as ever, which was to say, not at all.

She met him in their main hall, after having him lead there by Maudie, the maid that Merida often complained about. The heavy wooden doors creaked shut behind him, making him jump at the thick clunk of their closing.

The Queen rose gracefully from her seat, her hands still folded in front of her, and descended the steps between them with a midsummer thunderstorm in her expression.

“Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third,” he winced at the sound of his full title (which, as usual, meant he was being scolded) “state your business with our kingdom. You know too well of the delicate peace between our lands- what reason could you _possibly_ have for risking that balance?”

“The princess and I have struck our own balance, Milady Queen.” Her lips tightened with rage at his casual tone, and he bowed his head, rephrasing frantically. “That is to say, uhm- Merida is my friend and ally, and I am honored to fight by her side. I’m not here as a member of the Hooligan tribe, Ma’am, I come as a friend of your daughter’s.”

“Very well.” Her words acquiesced, but Elinor’s posture lost none of its stern, stubborn immovability. “What _is_ your business with my daughter, then?”

“Well, we’re not exactly going through a heat wave.” Hiccup regretted the smart comment the moment he said it, but his mouth tended to move faster than his brain sometimes. He scrambled to remove the flat fury from the Queen’s face. “It’s my belief that this cold is a product of a friend of ours, and I came to confer with Merida on how to fix it.”

Elinor’s head tilted in genuine curiosity. “Is the letter from you, then?”

.

Merida’s room was a mess, as ever, but the princess was undoubtedly inside and innocent of wrongdoing; if Hiccup hadn’t seen her outdoors twenty minutes ago he wouldn’t have believed that she hadn’t been “practicing her needlework”. Granted, that excuse made her mother suspicious in and of itself, but Hiccup supposed that the queen was very used to her daughter’s minor falsehoods. His father had certainly never bothered to question him on some very obvious lies.

Once the princess was collected, they were guided once again to the hall, where Maudie brought down the letter. It had been brought not by a ship, but carried in the mouth of a bird and dropped straight onto a watchtower, addressed to Princess Merida. Maudie made the sign of the cross after she dropped it on the table, and scurried away.

Merida took it, peeling off the hardened wax and unfolding the old parchment. They both stared for a long moment, and Hiccup reached for the letter.

“Here, I’ll read it to you.”

Merida yanked the letter back, staring like he’d grown a second head.

“What?”

“Well, you can’t read runes, can you? I can tell you what it says.” Hiccup explained, gesturing to the paper. It was written in long paragraphs of elegant Norse.

“That’s _Gaelic_ , Hiccup, I don’t know what you’re on about.”

“No,” Hiccup explained less patiently than he would like, “that’s _Norse_.” He pointed a finger at a very clear rune- and the instant his finger hit the paper, just for a second, it blanked out. Clean parchment winked in and out of existence, and when he withdrew his hand, the Norse letters swam back into view.

He and Merida stared at each other. Merida shook her head.

“Bloody showoff Guardians.”

She spread the parchment out on the table, and they each read in their own languages:

_Princess Merida-_

_Sorry I couldn’t deliver this in person; we’ve been having a bloody awful time of it with one man down, and since summer’s my least busy time I got stuck writing this, even if I’m not so good with the words sometimes. So I’ll lay it plain:_

_Jack is in real bad trouble._

_An enemy of ours hit him with some kind of fear spell that’s eroding his control over his powers. It was a rough battle, and none of us could get to him in time. Let me tell you we are never gonna forgive ourselves for that. It didn’t take long to take effect. By now, he’s probably holed himself somewhere up north at the center of a blizzard- scared out of his mind, which is only making it worse._

_We thought it was only fair to tell you lot, since you’re his friends, though I did have a bit of a different idea._

_North is doing some spellwork, looking for a cure, but I don’t think that’s the way. I think that if he sees a friendly face, he might not be so damn petrified, and it could help work against the spell. He’s just a kid, and he needs a hand to hold. Since I can’t be there, I’m asking you to at least try._

_We’re doing everything we can. If you can call yourself Jack’s friend, I’m sure you are too._

_Hope springs eternal,_

_E. Aster Bunnymund_

.

“I’ll go with you, we can ride over the ice.” She started for the stables, and Hiccup could already see the plan forming in her eyes. He grabbed her arm.  
“No. Angus can’t ride over water- if we fix this, you’ll have no way home.”

She rounded on him, back straight and nostrils flaring. “What, you expect me to wait behind and worry for yer lives? And if something goes wrong?”

“Follow behind in a day or so. If everything’s still frozen over, we’re in trouble and we need your help.”

“Be careful. Never thought I’d say this, but Jack is dangerous.”

“He wouldn’t hurt us.” Hiccup shook his head, certain. As the first of them to meet Jack, he was pretty sure his would be the expert opinion.

“Not on purpose, but if his powers are out of control?”

Hiccup turned away.

“Toothless! We’re leaving!”

.

This far north, there were no mountains, and no caves. Nothing around for miles but flattened snow dunes below them, and the furious storm above.  
Toothless was forced to swerve back and forth, moving diagonally instead of forward, to keep the wind from turning them end over teakettle. He growled, flapping hard. Jack Frost smelled like the glaciers that surrounded the Night Fury breeding grounds, turned a favorable wind wherever he went, made Hiccup smile and laugh; the dragon would fly through a thousand storms to help Hiccup find him.

Hiccup, bent double over the saddle, draped in a thick fur, cursed and shivered and gritted his teeth. He couldn’t even remember how long they’d been flying, and with no sun overhead to guide them, the only direction that really mattered was into the wind. Jack would be at the heart of the storm.

He could barely see through the flurry of snow being whipped into his face by the wind, and the whole world was shades of gray; nonetheless, there was a bright white wall of ice, wind, snow and cloud directly before them. The center of the blizzard.

Jack.

“C’mon, buddy, just a little bit further!” Hiccup shouted- almost screaming to be heard over the wind. He couldn’t be sure who he was talking to, Toothless or Jack or even himself, but the Night Fury gave a determined screech, diving to gain speed and swooping upwards into the wind.

Fergus’ large bearskin atop his shoulders had frozen over long ago, doing nothing but collecting a thick layer of snow atop the fur. It was weighing them down. With a clumsy fingers and a quick mental apology to Merida, he undid the clasps across his collarbone, letting it fly into the wind.

The cold air hit him like a slap to the back, and for a moment he couldn’t breathe; he took his hands, fingers frozen almost solid by hours of holding the same position, and moved them down to Toothless’ neck. The scales there, normally cool, were much warmer than the biting wind. A shudder started somewhere deep in his midsection and traveled all the way up his spine, leaving Hiccup shivering violently. He bent down, touching his forehead to Toothless’ neck, and closed his eyes. All he had to focus on was flying, feeling the shift of muscle under the saddle that meant a turn or a dive, and moving in response.

Hiccup was no stranger to cold, or the damage it could do; he used to have a bad habit of staying at the forge late into the night and taking the long way home through the snow, he’d fallen into an icy stream when he was nine and nearly frozen to death walking back through the forest. Berk was not a community that took frostbite lightly. He knew all the rules, and number one was always: _keep moving._

_Just keep moving._

He could fly with Toothless by sheer muscle memory, a blessing when everything above the knee was fading in and out. He could only hope that that his shivering wouldn’t pull the tail into the wrong position, and that none of the parts would start sticking from the cold.

The snow wasn’t even snow anymore, it felt like ice and needles and shattered metal, battering against his skin until he couldn’t tell if he were freezing or burning. The wind tried and tried to push them off-course but Toothless roared, folded his wings down, and dove. The wind rushed into his eyes so hard Hiccup couldn’t see shapes, and a bolt of purple light illuminated the wall of flying ice and snow, bursting a hole through which the ground could, perhaps, be seen-

They were through.

The sudden lack of wind didn’t do them any favors, however. Boy and dragon as one were thrown forward, the sharp dive that had made it possible to ride the storm suddenly turned to a horrible speed at which one should not be hurtling towards a snowbank.

Toothless’ wings shot out to their full length, trying to slow them enough to land in time; and they were slowing, but not enough.

The snow on the ground was too thin to break their fall, and Hiccup was thrown from the saddle as Toothless skidded along the ice. He slid a few feet, gliding along powdered snow, and stopped, staying curled in a ball.

He lay there for what could have been hours or minutes, halfway dreaming and entirely unsure as to where he was, or even who, until something pushed him onto his back. There was a low, worried noise, and _warmth_ , warm air ghosting over his hands and face. Hiccup gasped, coughed, and swore himself awake, latching onto Toothless like a mussel on the underside of a ship, grabbing him around the neck until he could breathe steadily again.

When he opened his eyes, his first thought was, _Niflheim. I’ve landed myself in Niflheim and Hela is going to rip me to shreds for coming here with breath in my lungs._

The sky was a stormy grey, mists covered the ground for a hundred feet and then- another wall of the blizzard. Hiccup turned, and yes, the whole of the calm center was maybe two hundred feet across, a circle surrounded by masses of swirling snow. But here the air was still, silent but for the shrieking of the winds high above, howling and whistling into the cold sky.

The ground was flat, unremarkable except for the storm outside the eye, and it was easy to see a single form, crouched on the ice and dusted with snow.

Hiccup opened his mouth to shout Jack’s name, but at the first hint of sound his throat rasped, closing up and sending him into another coughing fit. Toothless whined, pulling up on his hind legs to set his rider gently on the ice, and Hiccup’s legs shook but held. He put out an arm, and Toothless ducked his head under, letting himself be used as an impromptu walking stick- a familiar position to both of them, after Hiccup’s first few months with the prosthetic.

They walked forward, slow, shivering, but moving. Hiccup breathed carefully, willing the tremors in his chest to become less violent so he could speak, and watched the thin figure in the middle of the storm.

Jack- because who else could it be, really- lay prone, elbows and knees flat on bare ice, swept clean of snow by the breeze that followed the ice spirit everywhere.

For once, Jack looked horribly vulnerable. Some age-old, ironclad protective instinct straightened Hiccup’s spine, and he moved faster, needing to get to his friend and check him over, come Hela or high water.

They were nearly to the ring of cleared, shining ice when Hiccup’s voice came back to him.

“ _Jack!_ ”

The youngest Guardian stumbled to his feet, and Hiccup finally got a good look at him. There were icicles forming on the tips of his hair, and his already-pale face was tinged an unhealthy blue; a black, shining stain crawled up his neck from underneath his tunic- the spell.

His staff lay discarded on the ground. Hiccup had always seen it used to direct his powers, and now they were uncontrolled, wild. The air was still, but Jack’s short cape whipped about behind him as though a cold wind were carrying it.

His blue eyes widened, and as panic clouded his features the storm _pulsed_ ; thunder rolled, and their tiny, safe bubble shrank as a few feet of tundra were reclaimed by the ice storm.

“What are you doing here?” Jack whispered, barely loud enough to be heard.

“ _Really_? What do you _think_ I’m doing here?” Hiccup asked, only a little sarcastic. “I came to get eggs, we’re fresh out.” Well, maybe more sarcastic than he’d intended.

Jack’s lips twisted as he tried not to smile, and he rubbed his thumbs along his knuckles- concentrating hard.

The eye of the storm widened again, and the snow on the perimeter of the calm took a moment to settle.

A small corner of Hiccup’s mind relaxed. _So he_ can _reverse it._

Granted, the rest of his brain felt like it was icing over. Every bone in his body was aching from the cold and the shivers still hadn’t stopped.

“You should leave.” Hiccup had never heard, and, Thor willing, would never again hear Jack’s voice as calm as this. He spoke almost tonelessly, his clenching fists exposing the emotions he kept off his face. The wind, high above them, wailed and moaned like a mourning song.

“Probably, yeah.” Hiccup agreed. “Not very comfortable up here. We should go see the Pole, I hear North sent you an invitation.” He’d been to the North Pole (as the Guardians called it) once, and he remembered with fondness the large fireplaces and warm workshops.

Jack shook his head. “I can’t. North- I can’t- it’s too risky.” He looked almost as though he were going to be sick. “I’ll screw everything up again. I can’t stand to- to _ruin_ them.” 

“Jack, we’re only trying to keep you safe. You’ve got to admit, it’s a lot more likely you’ll hurt yourself up here than somewhere we can keep an eye on you.”

“If I’m around other people I’ll hurt them.”

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“I don’t mean to! But it happens anyways! I’m nothing but…” Jack’s voice choked off, breaking Hiccup’s heart in the process. He supposed both of them had too much experience being a walking disaster area.

Jack shook his head and tensed his shoulders. He started again, urgency taking the place of the despair in his voice.

“You _have to get out of here_ , Hiccup. I’m dangerous, I’ll hurt you, please, just _leave_ -”

The young Viking gritted his teeth, planting his feet hard in the snow. "I’m not leaving without you.”

“You have to.” Jack pleaded, a desperate lilt to his voice.

“No.” if he had been more coherent Hiccup would have been surprised at the force to his voice; as it was, he was cold, tired, angry, and unwilling to let Jack have his way. “I’ll freeze to death right here if it means not leaving you alone again.”  
“I can handle being alone! I can’t handle having killed my best friend!”

“I’ll leave when you come with me. Not before.” Hiccup edged himself forward, not looking away or changing his expression, but moving in tiny increments like he would with a skittish or wounded   
Nadder.

Jack didn’t notice. “I can’t stop this, I can’t control it, I’m going to hurt someone and I _don’t want it to be you_. You have to _go_.” Despite his words he didn’t back away, leaning forward and gesturing outward with his hands; he gave the impression of being pulled almost magnetically towards Hiccup, and frantically trying to stay back. Jack swayed on his feet, trembling not from cold but from exhaustion; the ice spirit looked about a minute from collapsing.

The trouble with that is, thought Hiccup, I don’t know if his powers will stop- or explode.

“Part of the problem is how scared you are, Jack. I know you won’t hurt me. Calm down.” Hiccup shuffled forward again. _Just a little more…_

Jack shook his head, his eyes closed and hands digging violently into his hair. Thunder cracked in the storm surrounding them, and a wind began to ruffle Hiccup’s hair.

The barrier was breaking down.

_Time’s up._

He darted forward, clapped his hands on Jack’s shoulders- he hardly even had to reach up- and pulled him close. The Guardian was too thin, too cold, shaking hard, and he didn’t even struggle.  
The wind whipped over them, their tiny oasis shattered, and Jack whispered a tiny “ _Oh, no,_ ” as he wrapped his arms around his friend.

Hiccup’s hands and ears were numb, shivers still wracking his body, and painful warmth flooded to his limbs in his body’s last-ditch attempt to stay mobile. 

Some dastardly stubborn Viking instinct made him clutch tighter, even as he stopped thinking about where he was and who he was holding onto.

Jack’s chest heaved as he gasped for air, and he buried his forehead in Hiccup’s snow-frosted fur vest. Hiccup, for his part, was barely breathing; the snowy air felt like it was stabbing straight into his heart every time he took a breath in.

A deep shadow blotted out the little light that came from behind the storm, and thick, leathery black wings wrapped around the two teenagers.

Hiccup fisted his hands in Jack’s rough tunic, trying to feel the fabric on his fingertips, and felt instead the motion of Jack’s shoulders- jumping up and down erratically as he sobbed.

“Jack,” he muttered, his lips so cold he was almost unable to form the words, “it’s okay. I’m right here. I’m not letting go.”

.

Later, Hiccup had no recollection of how they got back to the North Pole.

He had no memories of getting Jack onto Toothless, nor of taking off in the softened wind. All he had was a vague, dreamlike notion of flight, and cold, and a body behind him that held on for dear life. It wasn’t terribly surprising; most everyone in the village who had close calls with death from cold couldn’t fully remember how they got to safety. There was something about ice that made the mind shut down until the body was safe.

As it was now.

The fire, unsurprisingly enough, was very warm. Almost too warm, in fact. Hiccup alternated between eagerly defrosting his frozen digits by the flames, and clutching them to his chest when they started up itching and smarting.

One of the animals- yetis, North called them- lumbered past, and Hiccup waved a hand. It looked at him with blue eyes, and warbled in some language that Hiccup didn’t understand.

“Uhm-” He hesitated, unsure if it could understand him. They listened to North, but, well, North was a sorcerer, he could probably talk to all manner of things. “Have you seen my dragon around? Toothless? Big black lizard, probably causing trouble? I need him up here.”

The yeti grumbled at him with narrowed eyes. Yep, Toothless was definitely here, probably making the yetis’ day much harder than it should have been.  
It growled a little and stomped off, with any luck, to look for Toothless. Hiccup turned back to the fire, and the warm drink North had given him before hurrying back into the library carrying Jack’s limp form. Right now, he was quite content to sit quietly, warming himself. Toothless would find him, because he always did. Jack would be alright, because he always was. Hiccup was done with mortal terror for the day.

It didn’t take as long as he would have thought before he heard several screams and crashes of the kind that generally signaled a Night Fury forcing himself through a space much too small for him. Toothless appeared over the railing next to the globe, chittered happily, and trotted over to join his rider by the fire.

He left behind him a path of splintered wood, crushed toys, and shouting yetis, but neither of them really cared.

“Hey, buddy!” Hiccup exclaimed, scratching Toothless’ favourite spot, just behind his chin. The Night Fury licked him in the face, laughing when he spluttered.

“All right, all right.”

“You two are cute.” The voice came from the opposite wall, and Hiccup stilled, letting relief wash over him while his grin spread.

“Rapunzel?”

The girl in pink skipped forward, stopping just before the half-frozen boy and his dragon.

“Hey, guys.” She waved, a huge grin on her face, and Toothless- the fickle beast- abandoned his rider to be showered with affection by the lizard-whispering princess. “Hi Toothless! I missed you too!” Hiccup rolled his eyes.

Evidently having had his fill of excitement for the day, Toothless wound himself around Rapunzel’s legs one last time, and went to curl up next to Hiccup in front of the fireplace. Rapunzel followed, kneeling down to hug Hiccup.

He smiled up at her. Rapunzel had a natural talent at just making people happier by her presence.  
“So,” he started, “what are you doing all the way up here?”

“Oh!” She laughed, playing with her hair. “Sorry. I came to help Jack.”

“Yeah?” He looked up at her, intrigued.

“The spell that’s on him is a kind of Dark magic. So, Bunny thought it would be a good idea to get help from a Light-energy healer…” She kept going, but Hiccup lost track of her speech; something to do with “contrasting elements” and “emotional energies”. Magic was not a subject he had stayed interested past the age of about seven.

When she stopped for breath, Hiccup took his chance, and interrupted. “Is he okay?”

“Yes!” Rapunzel nodded, then frowned. “Well, not right now. But he will be. He’s pretty out of it at the moment, North’s laying out the spellbooks and we should be ready to start once the circles are drawn…” She faded off into magic terms again.

“ _Rapunzel._ ” Hiccup interjected. “How is he now?”

“Uhm… Have you ever seen somebody with a really bad fever? That’s about what it’s like. He’s awake, but he’s dreaming.” She laughed, without any real humor to it. “It’s snowing in the library right now, actually, that’s why I’m out here.” She flashed her bare feet, and giggled guiltily for a minute- which stopped immediately when she caught sight of Hiccup’s hands.

“Oh my _gosh_ , Hiccup! How long were you outside?”

He mouthed a silent ‘ow’ as she grabbed his still-sore fingers. “I don’t know? Since I left Merida’s. We flew up to find Jack in the blizzard.”

“Hiccup!” The princess exclaimed, as though personally insulted by his inclination towards reckless rescue missions.

“Well, how else was I going to get him up here, by leaving a trail of berries in the snow?”

She didn’t respond, preoccupied with studying his pale and swollen fingers, pressing and checking under his knuckles and making him flinch every time.

“I don’t have frostbite, do I?” Hiccup asked. “Only, if I come home with another limb missing I think my dad might actually kill me.” Rapunzel responded only with an open palm applied, with moderate force, straight to his forehead. “Ow!”

“Shhh.” Rapunzel narrowed her eyes, then closed them, breathing deep.

She’d healed Hiccup once before- the last summer, he’d gotten a nice clip on his ear when one of Merida’s arrows went wide after her fletching broke. It had felt like the gentle prickles you felt on your skin after laying in the sunlight for too long, warmth and light and over-exposure to both.

But now it was an easy tingling under his muscles, like bubbling water up against his bones; very strange, but not _quite_ painful. She let go, and he shook his hands back and forth. His fingertips were still cold, but not numb, itching but not burning anymore.

He closed his eyes. “I’m never gonna understand magic, am I.”

Rapunzel laughed, reaching over to ruffle his hair. “Magic is just science we haven’t figured out yet. I’m pretty sure you’ll find a way to stitch them together somehow.”

A yeti called out to her in their deep, yammering language, and she got up. “I’ll be back out when Jack’s awake, okay?” She ran off, hoisting her pink skirt up past her ankles.

“Good luck!” Hiccup called to her retreating back, feeling entirely useless.

.

Hiccup woke to the creak of the library door, and very nearly tripped himself trying to get up too fast. He heard North’s deep voice, booming no matter his attempted volume, and felt a rush of cold air.

Jack turned the corner, and he looked… better. Not good, certainly. But better than he had in the center of the storm; he wasn’t smiling, his face still blue-tinted, but the icicles had melted from his hair, and the blackness creeping up his neck had faded to a purpled bruise. He was as barefoot as ever, and carried his staff- funny, Hiccup couldn’t remember either of them retrieving it from the frozen tundra- or, to be more accurate, his staff carried him. He used it as a walking stick, leaning most of his weight on the thin, warped wood.

Hiccup, who could think of nothing else to do, waved. Well, what did you say to someone whose life you’d saved? The only right answer was not saying anything, foregoing words altogether.

Jack gave a wan smile, hurrying his pace a little. Hiccup moved forward to help support him- and the metal in his prosthetic gave a protesting squeak. He sighed. No go; he’d made plans to re-shape the metal back home anyways, as he got taller, but the blizzard had made it brittle and tightened the spring to where it was almost useless. He’d have to make a completely new one.

Hiccup sat back down, slowly. It would still interlock with the saddle rig, but walking would be a problem. He beckoned Jack over absently, checking the hinges and seeing where some pieces might be salvageable.

Jack coughed a little, standing next to him, forlorn. Hiccup gave a glance at those big, sad blue eyes, and averted his gaze for his own safety.  
“Sit down, I’m just trying to figure this out.” He muttered. Yep, the spring was cracked. The hinges might be fine with some work, though…

“Figure what out?” Jack sat a little too close, cross-legged on his left, and leaned his head in curiously.

“Oh, just-” Hiccup gestured to the now unyielding hunk of metal at the base of his left leg. “The spring won’t work again, and the hinges are shot until I can hammer them back into place. It’ll still interlock with the saddle okay, so we can fly home, but I’m just trying to figure out how I’m going to walk until takeoff time.”

“So I guess you could say you’re…” Jack paused for effect, and Hiccup’s brows lowered into a warning glare. “Stumped?”

Hiccup’s expression must have been some hilarious mixture of disgust, disbelief, and disappointment, because Jack burst into peals of laughter at the sight. The Viking boy sighed, trying very hard not to join in.

“Jack!” He made a good effort to sound angry, but ended up laughing himself. Jack, ever dignified, began to compose himself for a moment before glancing back at his friend- and dissolving again, bent over and resting his head on Hiccup’s leg in a half-strangled giggle fit.

He managed to breathe for long enough that his laughter faded, and buried his face in Hiccup’s pant leg. “I need a nap.”

“I thought Guardians didn’t need to sleep.” Hiccup remarked to the ice spirit draped over his lap.

“Well, it’s less about the body and more-” Jack paused to yawn- “-more about your powers. Use too much magic at once knocks you _out_.” He shifted enough to lean up and crack his back; the bottom of his shirt came untucked, revealing a strip of pale, uninjured skin.

“You must be pretty tired, then.”

“Oh, yeah.” The words came out through another yawn.

They sat quietly, Jack having squirmed back to his original position with his head on Hiccup’s thigh. He looked to be almost asleep.

“Jack?”

“Hmmm?” He didn’t even open his eyes.

“Out on the ice…” He hesitated. “You called me your best friend.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Did you mean it?”

“Well, I don’t think I was coherent enough to lie. Why, am I not yours?”

Jack’s blue eyes stared up from his lap, as brightly patterned as the snowflakes he called into being, his brows furrowed with badly-hidden worry. His white hair brushed and spread out across Hiccup’s pants; he was struck by a sudden urge to run his fingers through it, and not for the first time, either.  
Jack trusted him. Jack kept him company. Jack made him laugh.

And Jack left- but he always came back. And Jack laughed, smarted off, cried, threw things, and Hiccup wanted to see all of it. He wanted to be the one they trusted to go and find him, to go and drag the youngest Guardian out of himself, because he was the one who knew what it felt like to be a walking disaster.

“No,” said Hiccup, slowly and carefully, “you’re not.”

Jack sat up, twisting until his knees were under him, stared out at the Globe without seeing it. One hand went to his hair, conveniently hiding his eyes from Hiccup’s sight.

“Yeah, well-”

His flippant tone signaled an incoming joke, but he cut off as Hiccup leaned in, swift and sure, and pressed his lips to Jack’s pale cheek.

The ice spirit turned, his jaw dropping, and before he could react at all, Hiccup got in a second blow exactly where he was aiming.

It wasn’t their first kiss, not for either of them, but it was certainly their warmest.

.

Hiccup went home, drifting south on the warming wind.

.

When he got back to Berk, the snow hadn’t yet gone. Instead, it had melted down to a malleable building material; some of the little ones were making snow-Gronkles, and a few Zipplebacks had figured out how to bite down on a mouthful of white fluff and shoot snow-daggers from between their teeth that inevitably melted their way down the back of someone’s shirt. Gustav was leading the younger children on a valiant charge of Astrid and Snotlout’s snow barricade, and screams of joy and laughter could be heard around the island.

A snowflake swirled downwards, and touched Hiccup straight on the nose.

Hiccup smiled.


End file.
